Hunt to deepen multizone Kurdistan oil discovery

Hunt Middle East plans to set intermediate casing at 3,700 m measured depth at a multipay discovery on the Ain Sifni PSC in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

The Simrit-2, to be deepened to 3,800 m to test other zones on the western part of the Simrit anticline, has encountered an estimated 409 m of net oil pay in Cretaceous, Jurassic, and Triassic reservoirs of which 312 m is interpreted from drilling, wireline logs, and sidewall cores as containing light oil, said Afren PLC, which has a 20% interest in the PSC.

No oil water contact has been established in the target reservoirs. Comprehensive tests are planned after drilling is finished, and the rig is to be moved to the East Simrit prospect to drill the Simrit-3 exploratory well.

Hunt Middle East operates Ain Sifni with 60% interest, and the Kurdistan Regional Government has 20%.

Osman Shahenshah, chief executive of Afren, said, “The scale of the oil column that has been intersected suggests that the Simrit structure and surrounding prospects elsewhere on the Ain Sifni PSC have the potential to be transformational for Afren.”